Open Government Partnership
[pic] NIGERIA
OGP NATIONAL ACTION PLAN (January 2017 – June 2019)
Contents
LIST OF ACRONYMS 3
FOREWORD 6
Section 1. Introduction 8
Overview of the National Action Plan 9
Table 1: Summary of National Action Plan Commitments by Thematic Areas 10
Section 2. Progress in Open Government Initiatives 11
2.1 Fiscal Transparency 11
2.2 Government Integrity 11
2.3 Access to Information 12
2.4 Extractive Resources Transparency 12
2.5 Public Participation 12
2.6 Open Data 12
Section 3. Methodology 13
3.1 Consultations with Government and Non-State Actors on the Draft OGP National Action Plan…... 13
Section 4. Commitments 15
4.1 Fiscal Transparency 15
4.2 Anti-Corruption 25
4.3 Access to Information 31
4.4 Citizen Engagement and Empowerment 36
Section 5. National Action Plan Implementation and Co-ordination Framework 39
5.1 Context 39
5.2 National Steering Committee: 39
5.3 Co-Chairs for the OGP National Plan (Governance and Leadership Sub-Committee) 40
5.4 OGP Secretariat Management Team 40
5.4.1 Adviser on Civil Society 40
5.4.2 Adviser on Public Sector 41
5.4.3 Adviser on Communications 41
5.4.4 Adviser on Subnational Engagement 41
5.5 Support Staff 41
5.6 Working Groups 41
5.7 Funding 41
5.8 Organogram of the OGP Process in Nigeria 42
Section 6. Crosscutting Areas 43
6.1 Technology and Innovation 43
6.2 Communication Strategy 44
6.3 Monitoring and Evaluation 44
Section 7. Sub-National Engagement and Pilot State Commitments 46
7.1 Context 46
7.2 Benefits of Signing onto the OGP Principles 46
7.3 How can States join? 47
7.4 Duration of State Action Plans and Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms 47
Section 8. Conclusion 48
LIST OF ACRONYMS
|ACA |Anti-Corruption Agencies |
|ACADA |Assessment, Communication, Design, and Action |
|ANAN |Association of National Accountants of Nigeria |
|ANEEJ |African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice |
|BOF |Budget Office of the Federation |
|BOR |Beneficial Ownership Register |
|BPP |The Bureau for Public Procurement |
|BPSR |Bureau of Public Service Reforms |
|BVN |Bank Verification Number |
|CAC |Corporate Affairs Commission |
|CBN |Central Bank of Nigeria |
|CCB |Code of Conduct Bureau |
|CCIDESOR |Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights |
|Centre LSD |African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development |
|CIRDDOC |Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre |
|CISLAC |Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre |
|CITAD |Centre for Information Technology and Development |
|CITN |Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria |
|CODE |Connected Development |
|COREN |Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria |
|CSOs |Civil Society Organisations |
|DFID |Department For International Development |
|DPR |Department of Petroleum Resources |
|DSS |Department of State Security |
|FIDA |International Federation of Women Lawyers |
|FIRS |Federal Inland Revenue Service |
|FMNS |Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development |
|FMoJ |Federal Ministry of Justice |
|FMPR |Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources |
|FOI |Freedom of Information |
|FOIA |Freedom of Information Act 2011 |
|FOIC |Freedom of Information Coalition |
|FRC |Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria |
|FRCN |Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria |
|GIFMIS |Government Integrated Financial Management Information System |
|GMoU |Global Memorandum of Understanding |
|HAGF |Honourable Attorney General of the Federation |
|ICAN |Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria |
|ICPC |Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission |
|IPPIS |Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System |
|JDPC |Justice Development and Peace Commission |
|LEAs |Law Enforcement Agencies |
|MAN |Manufacturers Association of Nigeria |
|MDA |Ministries, Departments and Agencies |
|MND |Ministry of Niger-Delta |
|MoF |Ministry of Finance |
|MRA |Media Rights Agenda |
|MSMEs |Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
|MTEF |Medium Term Expenditure Framework |
|MTSS |Medium-Term Sector Strategy |
|NACCIMA |Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture |
|NAP |National Action Plan |
|NASS |National Assembly |
|NBA |Nigerian Bar Association |
|NBS |National Bureau of Statistics |
|NBTE |National Board for Technical Education |
|NCC |Nigerian Communications Commission |
|NCDB |Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board |
|NCS |Nigeria Customs Service |
|NDLEA |National Drug Law Enforcement Agency |
|NEITI |Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative |
|NESG |Nigerian Economic Summit Group |
|NIA |National Intelligence Agency |
|NIMASA |Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency |
|NIPC |Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission |
|NITDA |National Information Technology Development Agency |
|NLC |Nigeria Labour Congress |
|NNPC |Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation |
|NOA |National Orientation Agency |
|NPF |Nigeria Police Force |
|NRGI |Natural Resource Governance Institute |
|NSA |National Security Adviser |
|NSC |Nigerian Shippers' Council |
|NTA |Nigerian Television Authority |
|NUC |National Universities Commission |
|NUJ |Nigeria Union of Journalists |
|NUPENG |Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers |
|OAGF |Office of the Accountant General of the Federation |
|OAuGF |Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation |
|OGP |Open Government Partnership |
|ONSA |Office of the National Security Adviser |
|OSGF |Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation |
|PACAC |Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption |
|PENGASSAN |Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria |
|PGL |Pyrich Group Limited |
|PPA |Public Procurement Act 2007 |
|PPDC |Public and Private Development Centre |
|PROWAN |Professional Women Accountants in Association of National Accountants of Nigeria |
|PWYP |Publish What You Pay |
|RBM |Results Based Management |
|RMAFC |Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission |
|RMRDC |Raw Materials Research and Development Centre |
|SFAFP |Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention |
|TSA |Treasury Single Account |
|UBEC |Universal Basic Education Commission |
|WANGONeT |The West African NGO Network |
FOREWORD
I am delighted that Nigeria has joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) at this time in our national life. For many years, lack of openness and corruption has meant that resources meant for development have been frittered away through the entrenchment of a culture of opacity. I am therefore glad that through the OGP process, my government has committed to intensifying the fight against corruption, sharing more information about the way federal ministers are managing public resources, increasing civil society engagement in decision making and harnessing new technologies to strengthen governance.
Our membership of the OGP reaffirms the promise of this government to make fighting corruption a cardinal part of its policy agenda. And when I say fighting corruption, I do not see it as a stand-alone effort. Rather, it is a coordinated and multi-sectoral effort consistent with what OGP is all about. So far we have made relative progress compared to what we met on ground when we were elected more than a year ago and we will not rest on our oars. Our fight against corruption is just one of the efforts we are making as a government to enthrone accountability and national prosperity. We are also pursuing complementary programs aimed at opening up our country for non-oil investments by ensuring that global standards of business practice are respected and enforced.
I am aware that the process of development of the National Action Plan involved active collaboration with civil society groups and the private sector. The co-creation effort of civil society and government in developing the NAP is something I want to specifically applaud. This government considers civil society organizations as partners in our developmental process.
The National Action Plan we are presenting today spans into four key thematic areas of fiscal transparency, anti-corruption, access to information, and citizen engagement. The commitments are concrete, ambitious but implementable. Some of the key deliverables are open budgeting, open contracting, revenue transparency, and a publication of a register of beneficial ownership especially in the extractive industry among others. They draw from the issues I committed to, on behalf of Nigeria during the Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May 2016 and aim at consolidating ongoing efforts over the next two years.
I am aware that there will be challenges in the implementation process but I have every confidence that we will undertake implementation in a manner that will produce desirable results for citizens in the shortest possible time. I must reiterate here that our commitment to reform government to be more responsive to the aspirations of citizens remains uppermost in the results we want to deliver.
I am therefore happy to present this plan to you. I want to thank everyone involved in putting it together both from government, civil society and the private sector. This unique collaboration is a clear demonstration of your shared patriotism and commitment to good governance. Let me most especially thank the OGP Secretariat in Nigeria, under the able leadership of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN for taking the lead to make this happen.
I want to assure the development partners and the international community who supported this process (particularly the British Department for International Development, the United States Government and the MacArthur Foundation) that I will do everything within my power to foster more inclusiveness in our policy approaches to strengthen our institutions. There is very little we can achieve as a nation unless we rebuild the trust of stakeholders in public institutions. I hope that we can achieve it through the effective implementation of the OGP National Plan.
It is my firm belief that we will gradually progress to increased transparency and accountability and eventually achieve national prosperity.
Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR)
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Section 1. Introduction
Nigeria has been acknowledged as one of the largest economies in Africa with a maturing political system. While these features should ordinarily attract investors, the country is currently in a recession as is evident in the negative GDP growth rates of -2.06 percent and -2.24 percent in the second and third quarters of 2016 respectively.
The declining GDP has been accompanied by a high inflation rate of 18.3 percent in October 2016 and high unemployment rate of 13.3 percent at the end June 2016. With the current weak global oil prices, the country’s revenues have experienced a significant decline from the projected values. This has been aggravated by reduced production caused by the militancy in the Niger Delta region of the country, which has resulted in a fall in production from 2.2 million barrels-per-day (bpd) to about 1.4 million bpd in September 2016.
The nation’s external reserves also fell to a ten-year low of about $24.6 billion in November 2016, a 30 percent decline from the October 2014 figure, reflecting the effect of lower oil prices, falling production volumes and dwindling foreign investments. Insurgency in the Northern part of the country has claimed over 20,000 lives and properties worth billions of naira. All these have put a strain on the country’s import-dependent economy and increased the incidence of poverty.
The very discouraging statistics above is partly a consequence of corruption that has been one of the biggest impediments to the country’s development. His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari who was popularly elected to power in May 2015 promised to make the fight against corruption a cardinal part of his policy. Since his election he has left no one in doubt of the government’s commitment to make governance in Nigeria more open, accountable and responsive to citizens through several important reforms and initiatives already in place.
His commitment to lead by example was brought to the fore when in May 2016, the President attended the international Anti-Corruption Summit organized by the government of the United Kingdom where he reaffirmed his commitment to strengthen anti-corruption reforms through implementing programs aimed at: exposing corruption; punishing the corrupt and providing support to the victims of corruption; and, driving out the culture of corruption.
Flowing from these commitments, the Federal Government sought to deepen institutional and policy reforms and this led to Nigeria joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2016 as the 70th country. The OGP is an international multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizen participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation. It brings together government and civil society champions of reforms who recognize that governments are more likely to be more effective and credible when governance is subjected to public input and oversight. At the national level, OGP introduces a domestic policy mechanism through which the government and civil society can have an ongoing dialogue. At the international level, it provides a global platform to connect, empower and support domestic reformers committed to transforming governments and societies through openness.
The OGP was formally launched in 2011 when the eight (8) founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans. The uniqueness of the OGP process lies in the implementation of the National Action Plan as it provides an organizing framework for international networking and incentives.
1.
Overview of the National Action Plan
The OGP National Steering Committee (NSC) was recently constituted, with the Federal Ministry of Justice as the Coordinating Ministry and Co-chair. As the OGP process requires 50 percent civil society participation, a co-chair was also nominated by the Civil Society Organisations. The NSC will also have two incoming co-chairs, one each from Government and non-state actors in line with best practices. The NSC is currently made up of representatives of Government Ministries, Agencies, Departments (MDAs) as well as civil society organizations, organized private sector and professional associations who worked together to co-create this 30-month (Jan 2017 - June 2019) National Action Plan (NAP). The NAP aims to deepen and mainstream transparency mechanisms and citizens’ engagement in the management of public resources across all sectors.
Through a consultative process between government and civil society, the NSC agreed to consolidate existing and new reforms within four thematic areas in this NAP. The thematic areas are: (1) promoting fiscal transparency; (2) access to information; (3) anti-corruption and asset disclosure; and, (4) citizen engagement and empowerment.
The National Action Plan seeks to promote fiscal transparency through more citizen participation in the budget process, implementation of open contracting in the public sector, enhancing disclosure in the extractive industries, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the tax system and improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
Similarly, it will ensure that corruption is rooted out through the establishment of a public beneficial ownership register, the development of a platform for sharing information between government MDAs to detect and prevent corrupt practices, the strengthening of Nigeria’s asset recovery legislation and taking appropriate actions to co-ordinate anti-corruption activities.
Under the citizen’s engagement thematic area, the NAP will lead to the development of a permanent dialogue mechanism between citizens and government; review of legislation around transparency and accountability issues; and the adoption of a technology-based citizens’ feedback on projects and programs. The last two commitments will improve access to information by increasing compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.
Beyond the commitments, the NAP also took into consideration crosscutting issues that will empower citizens to engage with the government and ensure proper dissemination and management of information. The crosscutting issues are: (i) Technology and Innovation; (ii) Monitoring and Evaluation; and (iii) Communication Strategy for the NAP. To ensure effective deployment of these tools across all the thematic areas, three working groups have been set up to develop implementation strategies and to articulate action plans (set out in Section 6), to support the work of these groups.
Abubakar Malami, SAN,
Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice
Co-chair, OGP Nigeria
Table 1: Summary of National Action Plan Commitments by Thematic Areas
|Fiscal Transparency |
|1 |Ensure more effective citizens’ participation across the entire budget cycle. |
|2 |Full implementation of Open Contracting and adoption of Open Contracting Data Standards in the public sector. |
|3 |Work together with all stakeholders to enhance transparency in the extractive sector through a concrete set of disclosures related to |
| |payments by companies and receipts by governments on all transactions across the sector’s value chain. |
|4 |Adopt common reporting standards and the Addis Tax initiative aimed at improving the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness|
| |of the tax system. |
| 5 |Improve the ease of doing business and Nigeria’s ranking on the World Bank Doing Business Index. |
|Anti-Corruption |
|6 |Establish a Public register of Beneficial Owners of Companies, |
|7 |Establish a platform for sharing information among Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs), National Security |
| |Adviser (NSA) and financial sector regulators to detect, prevent and disrupt corrupt practices. |
|8 |Strengthen Nigeria’s asset recovery legislation including non-conviction based confiscation powers and the introduction of unexplained |
| |wealth orders. |
|9 |Take appropriate actions to co-ordinate anti-corruption activities; improve integrity and transparency and accountability. |
|Access to Information |
|10 |Improved compliance of public institutions with the Freedom of Information Act in respect of the annual reporting obligations by public |
| |institutions and level of responses to requests. |
|11 |Improved compliance of public institutions with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with respect to the Proactive disclosure provisions|
| |and stipulating mandatory publication requirements. |
|Citizen Engagement |
|12 |Develop a Permanent Dialogue Mechanism on transparency, accountability and good governance between citizens and government to facilitate |
| |a culture of openness. |
|13 |Government-civil society to jointly review existing legislations on transparency and accountability issues and make recommendations to |
| |the National Assembly. |
|14 |Adopt a technology-based citizens’ feedback on projects and programs across transparency and accountability. |
Section 2. Progress in Open Government Initiatives
Nigeria is already implementing several open government and anti-corruption reforms. These reforms cut across several sectors of governance. Consequently, the OGP initiative presents a platform for increased global participation, peer learning and continuous self-assessment. The country has also fully embraced modern technology as is evident in various components of the reform initiatives:
2.
1 Fiscal Transparency
Financial Management Systems: Implementation of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has brought greater transparency to public financial management processes. The Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant General and Budget Office regularly publish allocations of federation revenues to all tiers of government, and widely disseminate information on budget allocation and execution. Similarly, IPPIS has created a centralized database system for the Public Service with a single, accurate source of employee information.
In the same vein, the full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has enabled the government to better monitor the financial activities of over 900 MDAs from a single platform, reduced the amount the government loses in interest rates on borrowing from commercial banks, eliminated the process of cash backing MDAs’ accounts with commercial banks, improved the reconciliation process for MDA accounts and saved the government several billions of naira which would otherwise have been lost through corrupt practices.
Bank Verification Number (BVN): The implementation of the BVN initiative has created a centralized biometric identification system for the financial system. It has reduced fraudulent practices by dubious individuals and restored confidence in our banking industry, given that it makes it possible to follow the trail of money.
Public Procurement Act: The Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) is working to implement and improve transparent and competitive procurement process in line with global open contracting principles. It is the objective of this government to pursue the automation of public procurement processes in all government agencies before 2019. Already the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has adopted the open contracting standards in its operations and is one of the first agencies of government to do so.
2 Government Integrity
Asset Declaration: The Code of Conduct Bureau is now able to implement its mandate of ensuring that public officers declare their assets promptly and that such assets are verified and recorded in accordance with the law.
3 Access to Information
Freedom of Information Act (FOI): The enactment of the FOI Act in 2011 has made public records and information more freely available and accessible to Nigerians. Several government agencies have set up compliance structures that now enable them to respond to requests for information within the ambit of the law. The Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) has adopted a unique electronic FOI platform on its website that gives real-time information to citizens and encourages voluntary disclosure.
4 Extractive Resources Transparency
Beneficial Ownership Register: The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is developing a register of beneficial owners of all companies operating in the Nigerian extractive industry and would soon make it public in line with global standards.
The Corporate Affairs Commission is reviewing its laws to make it possible to disclose beneficial owners and would soon create a public register of beneficial owners of all public companies.
The Money Laundering Act 2007 is currently being reviewed to better define who a beneficial owner of a company is.
5 Public Participation
Electoral Reform: In September 2016, an Electoral Reform Committee was set up to review the electoral environment, review all the laws and experiences of the 2015 general elections and make recommendations to government. The overarching goal of this effort is to continue to improve political participation, promote free and fair elections and generally deepen the democratic culture of citizens.
6 Open Data
Data Access: Most Nigerian Laws are now in electronic format. The Federal Budget prepared by the Budget Office of the Federation and other official government statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) are also available online. Yet, the need to ensure consistency in the availability and application of these resources remains. The goal is to ensure that data is consistent and information is regularly presented in an easy to use format - easy to find and interpret.
Conclusion
Enacting the right laws and having the best regulations in place will not be enough to achieve the visions of the Nigerian Government. It is hoped that through the OGP process, these laws, regulations and systems will be robustly implemented across MDAs in a concerted effort supported by the NSC. The full implementation of the NAP over 30 months (January 2017 - June 2019) will improve on the existing initiatives of the Nigerian government, by strengthening ongoing reform and empowering public servants and citizens.
Section 3. Methodology
In May 2016 President Buhari announced Nigeria's commitment to Global Open Government Partnership Principles and directed the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to implement the commitments made in London. Subsequently, in June, 2016, Nigeria sent a Letter of Intention to Join the Open Government Partnership (OGP). In July 2016, OGP wrote to the Government of Nigeria to convey the International Steering Committee’s acceptance of Nigeria as a member. It further requested that Nigeria sets up a National OGP Steering Committee made up of civil society, organized private sector and selected government agencies and to commence the development of a National Action Plan.
The Federal Ministry of Justice under the leadership of the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (HAGF), organized a stakeholder session on OGP to identify members of the steering committee and to discuss the implementation framework of the OGP Principles in July 2016. At this session, the CSOs also self-selected their members to represent them on the steering committee.
1. Consultations with Government and Non-State Actors on the Draft OGP National Action Plan
The National Action Plan (NAP) was developed through dialogue in a manner consistent with the OGP Guidelines on Country Consultation and commitments[1]. Below are the consultations undertaken the Nigeria OGP Secretariat to ensure an inclusive approach:
• In October 2016, the Nigeria OGP Secretariat prepared and administered questionnaires to key MDAs requesting information on mandates, challenges and ongoing reforms in areas relevant to the OGP thematic commitments. Responses were received and incorporated into the relevant sections of the Commitment template presented in Section 4 of this report.
• On 23rd October 2016, the Open Alliance – a Civil Society OGP Coalition organized a civil society/private sector consultative workshop on the development of the OGP National Action Plan. The objective was to set the civil society agenda for the OGP retreat and agree on an outline for OGP National Action Plan. At the workshop, a draft OGP National Action Plan prepared by civil society was debated. It was also agreed, that the draft would be used to enrich the preparation of the Nigeria OGP National Action Plan.
• The Federal Ministry of Justice organised the first OGP National Retreat held in Kaduna, Nigeria from 24th -26th October 2016. Members of OGP Nigeria Steering Committee, development partners, and key representatives of the OGP International Secretariat including the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Pradhan Sanjay, attended the retreat. It provided the opportunity for the OGP Steering Committee to agree on a draft National Action Plan.
• The Commitments were considered under four thematic areas: Fiscal Transparency, Anti-corruption, Access to Information, and Citizen’s Engagement. A summary of the Commitments under the thematic areas is contained in Section One above.
• On 7th November 2016, the OGP Nigeria Secretariat shared the revised draft National Action Plan on the Federal Ministry of Justice’s website[2]. It also distributed the draft NAP to all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as the OGP International Secretariat for review and feedback.
• A half-day validation workshop was held on 8th November 2016, for senior level officials from members of the National Steering Committee. Presentations were made based on the four thematic areas and crosscutting issues, highlighting the logic and impact of the action plan, key performance indicators, and implementing agencies for each Commitment. The workshop provided a good opportunity for strengthening and broadening ownership of the OGP National Action Plan. The workshop ended with participants undertaking a participatory risk analysis of the National Action Plan involving the identification, probability, impact assessment and possible mitigation strategies of potential risks.
• CSOs also disseminated the draft NAP via television and radio interviews as well as their tweeter handles and websites.[3]
• Upon completion, the NAP will be presented at the OGP 4th Global Summit on 7th December 2016. If approved, the implementation of the NAP will begin in January 2017. It is expected that the NSC in consultation with the OGP Nigeria Secretariat will develop a detailed action plan outlining implementation steps under each of the 14 NAP commitments. During the implementation period, the performance of the government in the implementation of the commitments will be assessed based on the NAP Monitoring and Evaluation strategy and the OGP International Review Mechanism (IRM).
Section 4. Commitments
1 Fiscal Transparency
|Thematic Area: |Fiscal Transparency |
|Commitment 1: |To ensure more effective citizens’ participation across the entire budget cycle. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 to June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning |
|Responsible Persons: |Udoma Udo Udoma and Mrs Zainab Ahmed |
|Designation: |Honourable Minister/Minister of State |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation:|MDAs |Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Information, Budget Office of the Federation, Office of the Accountant-General of the, Federation, |
| | |Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, National Assembly, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Orientation |
| | |Agency |
| |CSOs, Private |Public and Private Development Centre, BudgIT, Centre for Social Justice, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Open Alliance, Nigerian Union of |
| |sector, etc. |Journalists, Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre, Citizens Wealth Platform, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Christian Aid, |
| | |Action Aid, One Campaign, The West African NGO Network, Professional Women Accountants of Nigeria, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, |
| | |Oxfam International, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, |
| | |Industry, Mines & Agriculture |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |There is inadequate citizens’ engagement and participation in the budget preparation, approval, implementation and monitoring process. This results in citizens not having |
|the commitment: |information and thus not being able to relate with the projects in the budget and ultimately weakens accountability for resource allocations. |
|Main Objective: |To ensure that budget planning, approval, implementation, monitoring and reporting meet the needs of citizens and that citizens have open access to budget information in a|
| |format that is both human and machine readable. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment will ensure that citizens participate and make inputs into the budget process starting with the pre-budget statement, executive budget proposal, budget |
| |debate through public hearings in the legislature, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the budget. Budget information should also be made accessible to all. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |More robust citizens’ participation in the budget cycle will result in more effective management of public resources and improved public services and contribute to |
|commitment: |learning for improved budget performance. |
|Rationale for commitment: |By making budget information available and accessible to all citizens in a timely manner and usable format, this commitment improves accountability on the part of |
| |Government, provides openness and transparency in the budget process and ensures that citizens are engaged throughout the budget cycle. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Improved management of public resources to provide essential services. |
| |Increased citizens’ participation in budget processes. |
| |Improved governance, transparency and accountability. |
|Performance Indicators: |Changes in the level of citizens’ satisfaction. |
| |Number of public consultations in the budget process. |
| |Timely and publicly available audit reports. |
| |Timely publication of the quarterly budget implementation reports in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. |
| |Number of public hearings organized by the National Assembly on budget and audit reports. |
| |Comprehensive Needs Assessment Reports accompanying MDA budget proposals annually. |
| |Number of CSOs and citizens participating in the budget hearings organized by National Assembly Committees of 3 – 5 priority sectors of government. |
| |The number of community-based projects that are uploaded on the technology-based feedback platform per budget cycle. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |The Ministry of Budget and National Planning will hold two public forums to get citizens’ input into the pre-budget statements using the draft MTSS|April 2017 |April 2018 |
| |and MTEF document as tools/background documents in these forums. | | |
|2 |Publish MDA budgets and quarterly and annual budget implementation reports on their websites in both human and machine-readable formats. |January 2017 |February 2018 |
|3 |Conduct Needs Assessment whose Reports would accompany budgets in selected sectors including Health, Education etc. |January 2017 |March 2018 |
|4 |Annually publish a comprehensive citizen’s guide to the budget. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|5 |Adopt simple technology-based feedback mechanism for projects at community level for project monitoring by government and CSOs |February 2017 |June 2019 |
|6 |Conduct annual citizens’ satisfaction survey |January 2017 |January 2018 |
|7 |Publish timely all key budget documents to facilitate citizens’ participation according to the Fiscal Responsibility Act. |April 2017 |April 2018 |
|8 |Advocate for public hearings organized by the National Assembly on the budget |January 2017 |June 2019 |
|9 |Mobilize CSO and citizen participation in budget hearing |July 2017 |June 2019 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government and Donor Agencies |
|Thematic Area: |Fiscal Transparency |
|Commitment 2: |Full implementation of Open Contracting and adoption of Open Contracting Data Standards in the public sector. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 to June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Bureau of Public Procurement |
|Responsible Person: |Mamman Ahmadu |
|Designation: |Director General |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation: |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, Office |
| | |of Accountant General of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation, Bureau of Public Service Reforms |
| |CSOs, Private |One Campaign, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, Wole Soyinka Institute for Investigative Journalism, Pan-Atlantic University - |
| |sector, etc. |School of Media and Communications, Professional Organizations |
| | |Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Media Rights Agenda, Niger-Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Civil Resource Development and Documentation |
| | |Centre, Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights, Justice Development and Peace Commission, Society for Forensic Accounting and |
| | |Fraud Prevention, Centre for Information Technology and Development, Procurement Monitoring Working Group, Public and Private Development Centre, |
| | |BudgIT |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |The ability to link budget and procurement data through a delivery chain to enhance public service delivery in Nigeria remains a challenge. Additionally, government |
|the commitment: |Ministries, Departments and Agencies do not proactively disclose procurement information in a uniform format that is accessible to all citizens. |
|Main Objective: |To improve accountability and transparency of government procurement processes through the implementation of open contracting and public participation in the public |
| |contracting process. |
|Brief description of commitment: |The Nigerian Government commits to progressive implementation of open contracting and the adoption of open contracting standards to enhance transparency, accountability |
| |and citizen engagement in public procurement and fiscal transparency. In this phase, priority will be given to at least 5-10 MDAs at the heart of government development |
| |priority (including Power, Transportation, Works, Agriculture, Health, Education, Niger Delta, Environment, and Solid Minerals) |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |Implementation of open contracting will help to improve public service integrity and ensure that a greater amount of public resources are managed more effectively and |
|commitment: |efficiently to derive value for money. |
|Rationale for commitment: |Open Contracting can offer the following values through the use of innovative technology to increase access to procurement information: |
| |Transparency: The enhanced disclosure of procurement data and information across the entire procurement cycle and up to implementation stage will make the procurement |
| |process more transparent and reveal how public resources are expended. |
| |Accountability: The enhanced disclosure of procurement data and information will ensure that citizens understand the basis of decisions made along the procurement cycle.|
| |This will make the decision makers take actions that reflect better use of public resources, knowing that their actions can be challenged through existing recourse |
| |mechanism. |
| |Citizen engagement: Availability of procurement data across the entire procurement cycle and up to implementation will ensure that all stakeholders are able to monitor |
| |the procurement activities and provide feedback. This will ensure that public contracts are delivered with value for money achieved, thereby leading to increased service|
| |delivery. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |The expected outcome and or ambition of this commitment is |
| |Achievement of better value for money in public contract delivery and reduction of corruption and fraud in public procurement processes. |
| |Increased access to procurement data and information in both human and machine readable formats, with possibility of enabling analytics by stakeholders to increase |
| |citizen participation in the entire procurement cycle and offer more opportunities for businesses. |
| |Provide level playing ground and competitiveness. |
|Performance Indicators: |Percentage of public contracts awarded through open competitive bidding. |
| |Increased number of bidders per bid. |
| |Government’s response to the public on identified deficiencies in the bidding process. |
| |Number of projects monitored by the Open Contracting forum, using the open contracting data standards and the web portal. |
| |Number of MDAs whose procurement data are represented on the BPP public databank. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Increase sensitization of citizens on how to engage at every stage of the procurement cycle. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|2 |Establish Open Contracting portal with feedback mechanism that is populated with procurement data and available online. |January 2017 |January 2018 |
|3 |Establish open contracting forum comprising of government, Civil Society and Private Sector to ensure sustained engagement and improved procurement processes. |January 2017 |June 2017 |
|4 |Establish and properly constitute the National Procurement Council. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|5 |Establish administrative directive and guidelines and ethical codes mandating application of open contracting system for public contracts. |January 2017 |June 2018 |
|6 |BPP to compile and manage a publicly available databank on public sector procurement that is both human and machine-readable. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|7 |Clear administrative rules and guidelines issued by the highest level of government mandating open contracting in priority MDAs/sectors and setting timelines |January 2017 |June 2019 |
| |for compliance. | | |
|Source of Funding: |The Federal Government Budget and Donor Agencies |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|Thematic Area: |Fiscal Transparency |
|Commitment 3: |Work together with all stakeholders to enhance transparency in the extractive sector through a concrete set of disclosures related to payments by companies and receipts|
| |by governments on all transactions across the sector’s value chain. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 to June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) |
|Responsible Person: |Waziri Adio |
|Designation: |Executive Secretary |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation: |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Federal Ministry of Niger-Delta, Department of Petroleum |
| | |Resources, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Office of the Accountant-General of the |
| | |Federation, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Raw |
| | |Materials Research and Development Centre, National Assembly |
| |CSOs, |Natural Resource Governance Institute , Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Publish What You Pay, Budgit, Public and Private Development Centre, |
| |Private |African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, Miners Association, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Institute of Chartered |
| |sector, etc.|Accountants of Nigeria, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Nigeria Union of|
| | |Journalists, The West African NGO Network, Nigerian Labour Congress |
|General problem/challenge addressed by the|There is a lack of transparency prevalent in the sector, especially in the areas of accounting for resources derived from natural resources extraction and production, |
|commitment: |availability of information on licensing and disclosure of contract terms in the extractive industry. By implication, this poses several problems including |
| |under-assessment and subsequent under-payment of revenues and royalties due to government by companies in the sector. There is an even deeper problem of |
| |under/non-remittance of revenues/royalties to the treasury by government agencies. |
|Main Objective: |To promote/enhance citizens’ engagement by increasing access to information on extractive sector revenue and production. |
|Brief description of commitment: |Nigeria’s extractive industry has failed to deliver development and improve the well being of the vast majority of her citizens. The wide spread opacity in the industry|
| |has allowed corruption to thrive, thus, deepening issues of underassessment, underpayment and under-remittance/non-remittance of revenues due to government, thereby |
| |limiting what the government can deliver to improve the lives of citizens. A backlog of remedial actions to improve accountability across financial, processes and |
| |production has not been prioritized or implementation has been too slow leading to further leakage and loss in citizens’ confidence. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |A more transparent extractive industry will help to increase corporate accountability by the corporate stakeholders, increasing public integrity, more effective |
|commitment: |management of public resources by government and ultimately, create safer communities for the citizens to live and work in. |
|Rationale for commitment: |By fully implementing this commitment, Government will advance Transparency; Access to information; Public Accountability and Civic participation in the country in |
| |general, and in the extractive industry in particular. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Increased government revenue and increased citizens’ welfare as a result of improved transparency in the extractives sector |
|Performance Indicators: |Share of government’s earning from extractive industries that gets into the federation account, consolidated revenue fund, excess crude account, ecological fund, |
| |sovereign wealth fund, stabilization fund, dollar-denominated foreign accounts, etc., as well as full explanation from NNPC and other agencies of the use of revenues |
| |that do not get to the central treasury. |
| |Level of transparency and competitiveness of any number of open competitive processes for allocation of extractive industry licenses, including bid terms, names of |
| |bidders, winning bid and full contract text. |
| |Establishment of a beneficial ownership register for companies that hold exploration, production and export/swap licenses in the extractive sector. |
| |Disclosure of contract information related to extractive sector. |
| |The response of government to complaints and enquiries received from citizens during bidding and acquisition of licenses. |
| |Level of participation in the creation of Community Development Agreement. |
| |Number of companies that adopt and implement GMoUs for CDA. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Disclose oil, gas and mining contracts in the area of exploration and production, exports and off taking and swaps on a publicly accessible portal in both |January 2017 |January 2019 |
| |human and machine readable formats | | |
|2 |Quarterly disclosure by NNPC, its subsidiaries and PPMC of sale-level data on oil and gas sales. |March 2017 |June 2019 |
|3 |Develop Beneficial ownership register for companies that hold exploration, production and export licenses and publish in publicly accessible formats that are |January 2017 |January 2019 |
| |human and machine readable | | |
|4 |Develop policy on custody transfer meters in the oil and gas sector. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|5 |Get all extractive sector companies to adopt Global Memorandum of Understanding as an approach to the CSR programme. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|7 |Mandate all relevant players (government and private sector) to develop, disseminate and annually report on individual plans (including timelines) for |January 2017 |January 2019 |
| |treatment (clearing) of remediation plans (from the NEITI audits). | | |
|8 |All key stakeholders responsible for remedial actions hold annual open briefing sessions for sector stakeholders and interested public (including CSOs). |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|Source of Funding: |The Federal Government Budget and Donor Agencies |
| | |
| | |
|Thematic Area: |Fiscal Transparency |
|Commitment 4: |Adoption of common reporting standards and the Addis Tax initiative aimed at improving the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the tax system. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 – January 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Inland Revenue Service |
|Responsible Person: |Babatunde Fowler |
|Designation: |Executive Chairman |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation:|MDAs |Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Justice, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, Corporate Affairs Commission, Financial |
| | |Reporting Council of Nigeria, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, National Bureau of Statistics, National Assembly, Nigerian Maritime |
| | |Administration and Safety Agency |
| |CSOs, Private |Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Action Aid Nigeria, The Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre, Institute of Chartered |
| |sector, etc. |Accountants of Nigeria, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Chambers of|
| | |Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Department For International Development , Oxfam International, Council|
| | |for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |Revenues generated from taxes have remained low over time, due to the tripartite challenges of: non-declaration of tax liability and tax payment by the companies to tax |
|the commitment: |authorities; tax evasion and avoidance; and, abuse of tax incentives and waivers. |
|Main Objective: |To generate substantially more domestic revenue/tax as well as more ownership and commitment for the establishment of transparent, fair and efficient tax systems. This |
| |will help to address the challenges of tax evasion, tax avoidance, transfer pricing and other harmful tax practices, and subsequently promotes fairness and justice in tax|
| |administration. |
|Brief description of commitment: |The commitment seeks to promote increased tax revenues by ensuring the prevention of tax avoidance and evasion. This will address the issues of multiple taxation and make|
| |businesses pay their fair share of tax. It will also create equity such that local businesses are competitive, can create jobs and contribute to economic development. Tax|
| |avoidance and evasion have resulted in reduction of revenue needed to finance development and created an unfavorable environment for local entrepreneurs. This results in |
| |inability of government to provide sound services for citizens’ welfare and failure of small businesses, thereby increasing poverty. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |A more open tax regime will lead to improved public services, increased public integrity, more effective management of public resources by government and increased |
|commitment: |corporate accountability by the corporates. |
|Rationale for commitment: |This commitment is relevant to Revenue Tax Transparency, Accountability, Technology and Innovation and Access to Information. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |This commitment intends to maximize government’s revenue and improve citizens’ welfare and engagement by increasing government accountability in the use of public |
| |resources. |
|Performance Indicators: |Percentage growth in corporate tax. |
| |Proportion of revenue that gets into the Federation Account. |
| |Proportion of companies that comply with the Common Reporting Standards. |
| |Proportion of reporting financial institutions disclosing tax information to relevant tax agencies. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Signing and formal commitment to Common Reporting Standard and Addis Tax Initiative. |January 2017 |June 2017 |
| 2 |Sensitization of corporate organizations on the content and requirements of Common Reporting Standard. |January 2017 |June 2019 |
|3 |Issuance of directives to relevant stakeholders for compliance with Common Reporting Standard. |July 2017 |December 2017 |
|4 |Review and enforcement of penalties for non-compliance to standards. |January 2017 |June 2019 |
|Source of Funding: |The Federal Government Budget and Donor Agencies |
|Thematic Area: |Fiscal Transparency |
|Commitment 5: |To improve the ease of doing business and Nigeria’s ranking on the World Bank Doing Business Index. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 to June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment |
|Responsible Person: |Okechukwu Enelamah |
|Designation: |Honourable Minister |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Corporate Affairs Commission, |
|implementation: | |Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nigerian Energy |
| | |Regulatory Commission, Standard Organization of Nigeria, National Agency Food and Drug Administration and Control, Transmission Company of Nigeria, |
| | |Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency, Nigerian Communication Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry |
| |CSO, Private sector, |Open Alliance, Financial Institutions, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, National Association of Small and |
| |etc. |Medium Enterprises, National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, Electricity Distribution Companies, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Manufacturers|
| | |Association of Nigeria, Bankers Committee |
|General problem/challenge addressed|The bureaucracy and excessive red-tape inherent in government institutions involved in business process services constitutes a challenge and makes it difficult for potential |
|by the commitment: |investors and entrepreneurs to set up micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the country. Lack of basic and functional infrastructure is another critical challenge which |
| |investors face especially in the area of power and transportation. This also affects foreign businesses that wish to invest in Nigeria and is clearly evident in the country’s |
| |persistent poor ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. |
|Main Objective: |To improve the ease of establishing and operating a business in Nigeria by improving the basic infrastructure stock required to enhance business performance and making |
| |government agencies involved in business processes more efficient and transparent. |
|Brief description of commitment: | This commitment seeks to initiate and implement reforms that will make it easier for the private sector to engage with government agencies involved with business |
| |process-related services by streamlining the existing processes using innovative technology. The commitment will encourage improvements in infrastructure that is critical to |
| |the success of businesses and promote timely and efficient service delivery in all business process-related services including business registration, licensing, taxation, |
| |applying for credit, extending credit facilities etc. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|This commitment will lead to Improvement in Private sector and Public Service delivery of critical development projects. |
|commitment: |It will also lead to improved transparency and Integrity of public servants and private sector entrepreneurs. |
|Rationale for commitment: |By implementing this commitment, government will further enshrine public accountability in its dealings with the citizens. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Improved business environment will lead to more jobs being created, higher employment rates and ultimately to a more diversified and improved economy. |
|Performance Indicators: |Time needed to register a business. |
| |Time needed to register business premises. |
| |Time taken to obtain land title. |
| |Access to credit information. |
| |Access to credit for business. |
| |Number of processes involved in obtaining business licenses and permits. |
| |Improved ranking on the World Bank ease of doing business index. |
| |Increase in the number of MSMEs registered. |
| |Number of new jobs created. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Move Nigeria up by at least 20 points on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|2 |Make process of Land documentation / obtaining titles easier. |January 2017 |June 2019 |
|3 |Improved coordination and collaboration between agencies of government involved in business process related services. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|4 |Downward review of business registration and licensing fees. |January 2017 |August 2017 |
|5 |Improve critical infrastructure, including power transmission and distribution by establishing more power transmission and distribution stations, rail lines, |January 2017 |June 2019 |
| |inland waterways, etc. | | |
|6 |Establish a registry of credit information to be accessible by financial institutions. |March 2017 |December 2017 |
|7 |Enact laws that allow lenders to access borrowers’ data in the credit bureau or credit registry. |February 2017 |June 2019 |
|8 |Develop Road map for improving sectorial value chains for MSMEs. |January 2017 |December 2017 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government and Development Partners |
2 Anti-Corruption
|Thematic Area: |Anti-Corruption |
|Commitment 6: |To establish a Public Central Register of Beneficial Owners of companies |
|Start and end date: |January, 2017-December, 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) |
|Responsible Person: |Bello Mahmud |
|Designation: |Registrar-General / CEO |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation: |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Ministry of |
| | |Justice, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, |
| | |Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau, Federal Inland |
| | |Revenue Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigeria Extractive |
| | |Industry Transparency Initiative |
| |CSOs, Private |Public What You Pay, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Digital Forensics, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, |
| |sector, etc. |The West African NGO Network, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, NACCIMA, Connecting Lens Initiative, Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud |
| | |Prevention, BudgIT, Public and Private Development Centre, Professional Women Accountants of Nigeria, Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises Advocacy and |
| | |Support Initiative, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |Anonymous companies constitute potential and real dangers to the economy and security of the countries where they operate. These companies deny the countries of valuable|
|the commitment: |revenue through tax avoidance, mask links to corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism financing. People use proxies and fronts to register companies |
| |and the legal owners are usually not those who control and benefit from the companies. |
|Main Objective: |To put in place a system that enables openness, transparency and full disclosure of beneficial ownership information. |
|Brief description of commitment: |Nigeria is committing to establishing a register that will make it possible to identify the natural persons who directly or indirectly own, control or enjoy the benefits|
| |of the corporate entity. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |Most companies operating in Nigeria do not disclose beneficial owners, and names of owners are shrouded in secrecy. The Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (as |
|commitment: |amended) is still limited in providing for a public register of beneficial owners. |
|Rationale for commitment: |If beneficial owners were identified, there would be the possibility of tracing money linked to tax evasion, corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism|
| |financing. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Increased tax revenue from corporate entities and reduction of the possibility of hiding proceeds of corruption. |
|Performance Indicators: |Number of companies registered in the beneficial ownership register. |
| |Level of Accessibility to the public register of beneficial owners located in the CAC. |
| |Number of companies sanctioned for failure to disclose beneficial owners. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |CAC to commence consultations, workshops and process of establishment of Register of Beneficial Ownership. |January 2017 |March 2018 |
|2 |Capacity Building on Beneficial Ownership for public officials, civil society and investigative journalists. |January 2017 |December 2017 |
|3 |Establishment of Beneficial Register designed according to Open data standards. |March 2017 |December 2017 |
|4 |Regular update of the Register using innovative technology. |August 2017 |June 2019 |
|5 |Dissemination of Information on Beneficial Ownership. |September 2017 |June 2019 |
|6 |Establish clear rules on beneficial ownership, constitute coordinating committee with CAC and NEITI as lead organizations. |January 2017 |January 2018 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government budget and Development Partners |
|Thematic Area: |Anti-Corruption |
|Commitment: 7 |To establish a platform for sharing information among Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs), National Security Adviser (NSA) and financial sector |
| |regulators to detect, prevent and disrupt corrupt practices. |
|Start and end date: |January, 2017 -June, 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Nigeria Police Force, National Security Adviser, Department of State Services, Nigeria Customs Service, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, |
|implementation: | |Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau, Federal Inland Revenue Service, National Drug Law |
| | |Enforcement Agency, National Intelligence Agency, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Nigerian Communications Commission, Central Bank of|
| | |Nigeria, Nigeria Maritime Authority, Nigeria Ports Authority |
| |CSOs, Private |Public What You Pay, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Digital Forensics, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, |
| |sector, etc. |The West African NGO Network, Pyrich Group Limited, Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria |
|Main Objective: |The main objective is to set up a platform for information sharing, co-ordination and synergy among anti-corruption and security agencies to detect, prevent corruption and |
| |prevent fraudulent companies from doing business with the Nigerian government. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment is to set up two platforms, one for information sharing, co-ordination and synergy among anti-corruption and security agencies and the other, an accurate |
| |database of convicted companies and persons in Nigeria as required by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|The security situation and corruption trends across the world are changing rapidly with increasing complexity, new techniques and trends requiring inter-agency co-operation. |
|commitment: |Indeed, security and anti-corruption experts and practitioners agree that inter-agency cooperation is necessary to achieve security and prevent safe havens in today’s world. |
| |Unfortunately, there are many challenges militating against inter-agency cooperation among security and anti-corruption agencies across the world, especially on information |
| |sharing. In addition, there is no register of companies and persons who have been convicted in the past and there is the possibility that they will continue to do business |
| |with government. Such a list will not only prevent convicted corrupt persons and companies from doing business with government but will serve as a deterrent to others. |
|Rationale for commitment: |This commitment will aid use of technology and innovation to fight corruption; The platforms will enable sharing of information to prevent fraudulent entities from doing |
| |business with public institutions. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Co-ordinated response to detect, prevent and disrupt corruption. Prevention of blacklisted and convicted companies and persons from doing business in Nigeria. |
|Performance Indicators |Existence of a functional platform for information sharing. |
| |Number of companies in the list of convicted companies and blacklisted from doing business in Nigeria. |
| |Number of convicted persons who are in the database and blacklisted from holding public office. |
| |A functional database that collates information on crime trends and statistics as required by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Set up a technology aided platform for sharing information. |January, 2017 |December, 2018 |
|2 |Regularly update the platform. |February, 2017 |December, 2018 |
|3 |Set up the Inter-agency committee to co-ordinate the activities of Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) on information sharing to fight corruption. |January, 2017 |December, 2018 |
|4 |Establish and regularly update database of blacklisted and Convicted Companies and persons. |January, 2017 |December, 2018 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
|Thematic Area: |Anti-Corruption |
|Commitment 8: |To strengthen Nigeria’s asset recovery legislation including non-conviction based confiscation powers and the introduction of unexplained wealth orders. |
|Start and end date: |January, 2017- June, 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honorable Attorney General of the Federation |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |National Assembly, The Presidency, Anti-Corruption Agencies, National Security Adviser, Law Enforcement Agencies, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria|
|implementation: | |Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Central Bank |
| |CSOs, Private |Public What You Pay, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Digital Forensics, Pyrich Group Limited, African Network for Economic and |
| |sector, etc. |Environmental Justice, Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention |
|Main Objective: |To enact legislation that would aid asset recovery and ensure proper and transparent management of assets and proceeds. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment is to strengthen Nigerian laws with regards to asset recovery especially non-conviction based confiscation powers and unexplained wealth orders; and ensure |
| |proper management of assets and proceeds. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|Asset recovery is an integral part of anti-corruption work. It requires a good legislative framework and proper management of assets and proceeds. Asset recovery and |
|commitment: |management has been a huge challenge in Nigeria in the past. There are reported cases where recovered assets have not been properly managed leading to “looting of looted |
| |funds.” This commitment will strengthen the legislative framework and improve the management of assets and proceeds. |
|Rationale for commitment: |Strengthened laws on asset recovery will foster transparency and accountability in the management of recovered and returned assets. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Having a clear transparent guideline for the management of recovered assets will contribute to increase in revenue to provide services in health and education. |
|Performance Indicators |Published guidelines on transparent management of assets. |
| |Assets management and process of crime law enacted to ensure transparency in the management of recovered assets. |
| |Publicly available information on utilization of recovered assets. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Act. |January, 2017 |June, 2019 |
|2 |Capacity building for the ACAs to implement non-conviction based asset forfeiture regime. |January, 2017 |June, 2019 |
|3 |Federal Ministry of Justice to develop guidelines for transparent management of recovered assets pending the enactment of the law. |January, 2017 |June, 2019 |
|4 |Monthly publication of reports of the recovered assets and utilization. |June, 2017 |June, 2019 |
|5 |Deploy a framework for CSO monitoring of the procedure for recovery and utilization of recovered assets. |March, 2017 |June, 2019 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
|Thematic Area: |Anti-Corruption |
|Commitment 9: |Commit to taking appropriate actions to co-ordinate anti-corruption activities; improve integrity, transparency and accountability. |
|Start and end date: |January, 2017- June, 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation: |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Federal Ministry of Communication, Federal Ministry of |
| | |Science and Technology, National Orientation Agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau, Independent Corrupt Practices and |
| | |other Related Offences Commission, Nigeria Football Federation |
| |CSO, Private |Public What You Pay, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Digital Forensics, Pyrich Group Limited, African Network for Economic and |
| |sector, etc. |Environmental Justice, Freedom of Information Coalition, Global Network for Cyber Solutions, Sports Lawyers Association, Nigerian Bar Association, The |
| | |West African NGO Network , Nigerian Labor Congress, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Advocacy |
| | |and Support Initiative, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Open Judiciary Institute, Ethics and Compliance Institute, Inter-Religious |
| | |Bodies/Council, The Christian Association of Nigeria, Council of Ulamahs, other Sports Associations |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |There is a culture of corruption in Nigeria that fuels corrupt practices, often times with impunity. The mechanisms, systems and institutions are too weak to tackle the |
|the commitment: |level of impunity associated with these corrupt practices. |
|Main Objective: |To take actions that will alter the culture of corruption and promote transparency and accountability in Nigeria. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment is to take a wide range of actions that will change the culture of corruption and create the enabling environment for building institutional integrity in|
| |Nigeria. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |The series of actions will over time entrench the culture of transparency and accountability and eliminate the culture of corruption and impunity. |
|commitment: | |
|Rationale for commitment: |Over the years, corruption has become widespread across governments, private sector and the civil society. This has impacted negatively on all aspects of life in |
| |Nigeria. Corruption has become systemic, endemic and entrenched in most operations in Nigeria. There is therefore, the need to take a range of actions that will alter |
| |the culture of corruption and enthrone one of integrity. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Reduced corruption and improved compliance with rules and due process in all facets of life especially, extractives, health, education, professional bodies, sports, |
| |anti-corruption agencies and other public services. |
|Performance Indicators: |Anti-Corruption activities informed by a clear strategy. |
| |Integrity systems in place in ministries, department and agencies. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |To set up a cabinet committee to co-ordinate anti-corruption efforts of government and provide national accountability on the implementation of |January 2017 | June2019 |
| |anti-corruption strategy. | | |
|2. |To Join the international Sports Integrity Partnership. |July 2017 |June 2019 |
|3. |To launch a Practitioner Partnership on Institutional Integrity in the Public and Private Sector with special emphasis on the extractives, health, |September 2017 |June 2019 |
| |education, professional bodies, anti-corruption institutions and infrastructure development. | | |
|4. |To adopt the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, working closely with CSOs. |March 2017 |June 2019 |
|5. |To create an innovation hub that will facilitate the uptake of new approaches and technologies to tackle corruption and improve access to information. |July 2017 |June 2019 |
|6. |Introduction and passage of the Whistleblowers Act. |January 2017 |January 2019 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
3 Access to Information
|Thematic Area: |Access to Information |
|Commitment 10: |Improved compliance of public institutions with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in respect to the annual reporting obligations by public institutions and level of |
| |responses to requests. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 – December 2018 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Information, Federal Ministry of Communications Technology, National Information Technology Development Agency, National Orientation |
|implementation: | |Agency, Nigerian Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, News Agency of Nigeria, National Universities Commission, National Board for|
| | |Technical Education, National Judicial Council, National Assembly, |
| |CSOs, Private |Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ethics and Compliance Institute, Academia, Open Judiciary |
| |sector, etc. |Initiative, Private Media Outlets, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative, Media Rights Agenda |
|General problem/challenge addressed|Low awareness, skills and knowledge of the FOIA provisions and processes by citizens and public/civil servants. |
|by the commitment: |Lack of designated officer responsible for Freedom of Information in most public Institutions. |
| |Lack of sanctions against public institutions and FOI responsible officers who do not respond to FOI requests or/and report to FMoJ annually. |
| |Lack of Infrastructure to support digital collection and management of information, to facilitate timely retrieval of information requested for. |
|Main Objective: |The main objective of this commitment is to promote and actualize the right of citizens to request and receive information about how they are governed and how their country’s |
| |resources are utilized. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment seeks to enhance compliance with the FOIA provision requiring all public institutions to submit a report to the Federal Ministry of Justice on FOI requests |
| |received and responded to in any given year, by February of the following year. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|Public integrity, Increased transparency and public participation. |
|commitment: | |
|Rationale for commitment: |There is currently low compliance regarding responses to FOI requests and annual reporting obligations of public institutions of these requests and their status, and this |
| |situation affects public trust in the government which ultimately promotes corruption as information is hidden from public view and interrogation. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |This will lead to citizens having greater access to information and subsequently reduce waste of public resources and corrupt practices. |
|Performance Indicators: |Reporting: Increase in number of reports submitted by mid-term (2017) and achieve at least 200 submissions by public institutions of their annual FOIA reports to FMOJ by 2018.|
| |Published contacts of FOI officers or units across public Institutions. |
| |Responsiveness: At least 50% of all FOI requests are responded to by February 2018. |
| |FOI cases are heard and determined within 6 months. |
| |Increase in the number of requests submitted by citizens. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Awareness and sensitization campaigns for all staff of public institutions and continuous sensitization of citizens on the provisions of the FOIA. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|2 |Training of the key staff involved in the implementation of FOI on the requirements of the law and how to create and implement a system for handling |January 2017 |December 2017 |
| |requests. | | |
|3 |Designation of a Freedom of Information (FOI) officer/unit in each MDA and publication of their contact details. |January2017 |March 2017 |
|4 |Integrate the FOI role into the individual or group performance review of the FOI responsible individual and/or unit. |January 2017 |March 2017 |
|5 |Punitive administrative measures to be adopted and applied against public institutions and officials adjudged to be undermining the effectiveness of the |January 2017 |June2017 |
| |Act or breaching its provisions. | | |
|6 |Each MDA should deploy an E-FOI portal, similar to the BPSR Portal or any other digital platform where citizens can make FOI requests and receive |January 2017 |December 2018 |
| |responses. | | |
|7 |Develop and issue a practice direction to the Judiciary through the Chief Justice of Nigeria to guide the court on FOI cases. |January 2017 |January 2017 |
|8 |Adoption of technology based information systems and standards that will ensure that information is collected, collated and stored in a form that enables |January 2017 |December 2018 |
| |public officials to efficiently and effectively retrieve the required information within the 7-day time-limit for response to FOI requests as prescribed by| | |
| |the FOIA. | | |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
|Thematic Area: |Access to Information |
|Commitment 11: |Improved compliance of public institutions with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with respect to the Proactive disclosure provisions, stipulating mandatory |
| |publication requirements. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 – December 2018 |
|Lead MDA: |Federal Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Information, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, National |
|implementation: | |Information Technology Development Agency, National Orientation Agency, Nigerian Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Office |
| | |of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, National Judicial Council, National Assembly |
| |CSOs, Private |Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ethics and Compliance Institute, Academia, Open Judiciary |
| |sector, etc. |Initiative, Media Rights Agenda, Lawyers Alert, Connected Development |
|General problem/challenge addressed by |There is a dearth of information available to citizens. This has led to failures in their ability to advocate for improved service delivery based on evidence. |
|the commitment: | |
|Main Objective: |To ensure that basic information on government activities and services is readily available to citizens, in order to empower them to make informed decisions about their |
| |lives or provide them the basis for challenging retrogressive policies. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment seeks to improve compliance with the FOIA mandatory publication requirements and secures the right of citizens to information. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |Increased public integrity |
|commitment: |Increased transparency and public participation |
| |Improved public services |
|Rationale for commitment: |There is currently low compliance with this provision, thus, disempowering citizens and affecting public trust in government. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Reduce the pressure on MDAs for FOI requests as information is increasingly disclosed proactively. |
| |Citizens are more empowered to engage with government and make informed decisions about their lives, as well as demand minimum quality of services at the official price |
| |point. |
|Performance Indicators: |Achieve fully compliant publications, for a minimum of 200 public institutions, regardless of platform/form, by Dec 2018. |
| |Increase in public institutions making budgetary allocations for development of websites or publications to provide information for the public and automate service |
| |delivery. |
| |Reduction in FOI requests to public institutions on items covered by the mandatory publication requirement of the FOIA. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Design and implement the publication of fully compliant information as provided in the FOI Act, regardless of platform/form by at least 200 public |January 2017 |December 2018 |
| |institutions and make it easily accessible to the public. | | |
|2 |Punitive administrative measures to be applied against public institutions adjudged to be in breach of the mandatory publication requirements of the FOI |January 2017 |December 2017 |
| |Act. | | |
|3 |Publish responses to recurrent FOI requests on the public platform/in the publication. |January 2017 |December 2017 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
|Thematic Area: |Citizen Engagement and Empowerment |
|Commitment 12: |Develop a Permanent Dialogue Mechanism on transparency, accountability and good governance between citizens and government to facilitate a culture of openness. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 – June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |National Orientation Agency (NOA) |
|Responsible Person: |Garba Abari |
|Designation: |Director-General |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Ministry of Information, Ministry of Communication Technology, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Finance, other relevant and support |
|implementation: | |ministries |
| |CSOs, Private |Freedom of Information Coalition, Open Alliance, Budget Transparency, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Lawyers Alert, International |
| |sector, etc. |Federation of Women Lawyers, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Right2Know, Nigerian Bar Association, The West African NGO Network, |
| | |Media Rights Agenda, Connected Development |
|General problem/challenge addressed|Non-inclusiveness of citizens in the governance process. |
|by the commitment: |Paucity of knowledge about governance activities by citizens. |
| |Apathy of citizens with respect to governance issues. |
| |Poor knowledge of existing citizens’ rights. |
| |Lack of access to government data. |
|Main Objective: |To give citizens a voice in governance and make government more responsive to their priorities. |
| |To build mutual trust and confidence between government and citizens. |
| |To promote improved service delivery. |
|Brief description of commitment: |Citizens can be categorized into different publics like media, private sector, youth groups, women groups, rural and urban communities, traditional institutions etc. and each |
| |can be reached through different channels like Information portals, town hall meetings, media roundtable, policy dialogues, focus group discussions and others. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|Increases public integrity. |
|commitment: |Public participation. |
| |Improves public services. |
|Rationale for commitment: |To improve access to governance by citizens and responsiveness of government to the needs of citizens. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Increased participation of citizens in governance. |
| |Increased responsiveness by government to the people’s needs. |
| |Improved service delivery to citizens. |
|Performance Indicators: |Proportion of MDAs’ policies and plans that reflects citizens’ views. |
| |Proportion of MDA budgets that reflects citizen’s views. |
| |Number of Citizens’ forums held in key service ministries and MDAs like transport, Power, BoF, FIRS, CAC, BPP, NEITI, etc. |
| |Number of Public hearings conducted in Parliament leading to possible amendment of laws. |
| |Number of Town hall meetings held leading to greater community participation. |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Establish baseline for all the performance indicators. |January 2017 |June 2017 |
|2 |Institutionalize citizens’ forums in key ministries and MDAs like Power, Finance, Transport, FIRS, NEITI, CAC, BPP etc. at least annually. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|3 |Citizen engagement activities captured in Ministries and MDAs budgets. |January 2017 |December 2018 |
|4 |Produce a simplified citizens’ budget in at least three major local languages. |June 2017 |December 2018 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government Budget and Development Partners |
4 Citizen Engagement and Empowerment
|Thematic Area: |Citizen Engagement and Empowerment |
|Commitment 13: |Government-civil society to jointly review existing, legislations on transparency and accountability issues and make recommendations to the National Assembly. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 and June 2019 |
|Lead MDA: |Ministry of Justice |
|Responsible Person: |Abubakar Malami |
|Designation: |Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in implementation: |MDAs |National Assembly, National Orientation Agency, Bureau of Public Service Reform |
| |CSOs, Private |African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice , Right2Know, Nigerian Bar Association, |
| |sector, etc. |International Federation of Women Lawyers, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre |
|General problem/challenge addressed by the|Inadequate legal frameworks to foster transparency and accountability in the governance process. |
|commitment: | |
|Main Objective: |To ensure adequate legal framework to engender transparency and accountability in the governance process. |
|Brief description of commitment: |Comprehensive review of all laws and legislations relevant to the OGP process like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act, Nigeria Extractive |
| |Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Act, Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act, Money |
| |Laundering Prohibition Act (2011) and others. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by |Increased Public Integrity/Credibility. |
|commitment: | |
|Rationale for commitment: |To ensure a robust legislative environment framework to support the implementation of the OGP process. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Adequate legal framework to support the implementation of transparency and accountability process. |
|Performance Indicators: |The existence of the law |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Development of Frequently Asked Questions on identified laws and review plan |March 2017 | July 2018 |
|2 |Government-CSOs Roundtable discussion on reviews of gaps in existing laws |April 2017 |August 2018 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal Government, Donor Agencies |
| | |
|Thematic Area: |Citizen Engagement and Empowerment |
|Commitment 14: |Adopt a technology-based citizens’ feedback on projects and programs across transparency and accountability. |
|Start and end date: |January 2017 – June 2018 |
|Lead MDA: |Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) |
|Responsible Person: |Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami |
|Designation: |Director-General |
|Email and Phone: | |
|Other Actors Involved in |MDAs |Federal Ministry of Communication, National Orientation Agency, Galaxy Backbone, Other relevant ministries |
|implementation: | | |
| |CSOs, Private |Open Alliance, BudgIT, The West African NGO Network , Connected Development, Centre for Information Technology and Development, Enough is Enough, Freedom |
| |sector, etc. |of Information Coalition |
|General problem/challenge addressed|Inadequate citizens’ access to programmes and activities of government. |
|by the commitment: |Non-inclusiveness of citizens in the governance process. |
| |Low knowledge of governance activities by citizens. |
| |Apathy of citizens with respect to governance issues. |
|Main Objective: |To increase access of citizens, especially those in remote rural communities to government processes. |
|Brief description of commitment: |This commitment seeks the introduction of technology-driven applications, portals and platform that will enhance citizen’s access to government policy process for regular |
| |input and monitoring. |
|Specific OGP challenge addressed by|Public integrity. |
|commitment: |Public services. |
| |Effectiveness of public service delivery. |
|Rationale for commitment: |Increased number of people using mobile telephones in rural communities to connect with policy makers and engage in government processes. |
|Expected Outcome/impact: |Increased accountability in government service delivery. |
| |Improved access to government processes. |
|Performance Indicators: |No of MDAs with functional ICT platform for enhancing citizens’ participation |
| |Statistics of enquiries that citizens make on the platform |
|Specific Activities/Milestones |Start Date |End Date |
|1 |Mapping of MDAs already having the technology-based platform for transparency and accountability |January 2017 |March 2017 |
|2 |Creation of the citizens’ interactive platform for government institutions |January 2018 |July 2018 |
|Source of Funding: |Federal government budget, development partners and private sector. |
Section 5. National Action Plan Implementation and Co-ordination Framework
1 Context
The OGP governance framework in Nigeria seeks to model the international mechanism. The process requires a multi-stakeholder engagement and equal representation of government and non-state actors in the Steering Committees.
Against this background, Nigeria has a forty-two member National Steering Committee made up of twenty-one government agencies including the National Judicial Council and the National Assembly as well as twenty-one civil society organizations, private sector institutions, and professional bodies whose mandates cut across the OGP thematic areas. Some Ministries, agencies, civil society organizations, and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum have been included as observers because of their relevance in the implementation of the OGP commitments. During the Stakeholders Session on OGP and the Implementation of the President’s Commitment in the London Anti-Corruption Summit held in July 2016 at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, government ministries, agencies and civil society organizations self-selected their representatives based on the alignment of their mandates and the responsibilities they were assigned to implement in the OGP process. His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, subsequently approved the members of the NSC.
It is important to state that the members of the National Steering Committee will hold their positions for two years and that the positions in the National Steering Committee will become subject to election in the second phase of Nigeria’s implementation of the OGP National Action Plan in 2019. This will give other Ministries, Agencies, Departments, civil society organizations and private sector actors the opportunity to become members of the National Steering Committee.
2 National Steering Committee
The National Steering Committee (NSC) is drawn from civil society, private sector institutions and government agencies, and will meet twice a year unless where there is an urgent need to convene the NSC.
The roles of the NSC are to:
• Set high-level strategy, policies, and procedures;
• Provide targeted outreach and support to encourage members, government institutions, and non-state actors to meet their OGP commitments;
• Contribute funds and help with fund raising;
• Represent OGP and promote its accomplishments on the international stage;
• Set a strong example by upholding OGP values and principles and make ambitious commitments;
• Recruit and brief new Steering Committee members during the second phase of the National Action Plan;
• Connect the OGP Secretariat to key potential partners; and,
• Approve the Budget of the OGP Secretariat and annual work plan.
3 Co-Chairs for the OGP National Plan (Governance and Leadership Sub-Committee)
Four co-chairs will lead the NSC. It comprises the lead government co-chair and an incoming government co-chair, one co-chair and an incoming co-chair from the non-state actors. The four co-chairs and the Executive Director (of the OGP Secretariat) will also serve as the governance and leadership sub-committee of the NSC. Their responsibilities are to:
• Ensure vitality of OGP leadership by recruiting and orienting new members and new co-chairs of the National Steering Committee;
• Work with the OGP Secretariat Executive Director to plan and run Steering Committee meetings;
• Hire and Supervise the Executive Director;
• Ensure sufficient funding for the OGP to achieve strategic objectives; and,
• Provide financial, legal and ethical oversight.
4 OGP Secretariat Management Team
The OGP Secretariat will be led by the Executive Director assisted by a minimum of four Senior Advisers, namely the, (i) Civil Society Adviser, (ii) Public Sector Adviser, (iii) Communications Adviser and (iv) Subnational Engagement Adviser. There will be four support staff on finance and administration, monitoring and evaluation/independent review, technology and innovation. The Roles of the Advisers shall include:
1 Adviser on Civil Society
• Build and maintain trust and credibility with civil society organizations.
• Design effective engagement strategy and work plan.
• Design and jointly implement civil society programming and activities.
• Support Civil Society Partners to constructively engage the OGP process.
• Build partnership between the private sector, businesses and the OGP Platform.
2 Adviser on Public Sector
• Provide advisory support and guidance on all public sector issues as it relates to engagement of government agencies with the OGP process.
• Maintain communication with MDAs responsible for implementing specific commitments during the NAP implementation period.
• Contact MDAs responsible for implementation of specific commitments to get information on progress for inclusion in the self-assessment report.
3 Adviser on Communications
• Provide necessary input and guidance to implement the communication strategy in line with management decision.
• Build partnerships between all forms of media and the OGP process.
4 Adviser on Subnational Engagement
• Responsible for developing and building the relationship between the OGP process and the various states.
5 Support Staff
The Secretariat shall be made up of the Executive Director and a minimum of four support staff that will work directly with the Executive Director. They will cover crosscutting areas such as technology and innovation, monitoring and evaluation, administration and finance. The Executive Director will be at liberty to hire more support staff if the need arises and depending on availability of funds.
6 Working Groups
Working Groups will be established along the OGP working groups - four thematic areas as well as the three crosscutting issues identified in the NAP. Co-Chairs selected by each working group will lead the Working Groups. Working Groups will be made up of Representatives of Ministries, Agencies, Departments, CSOs and private sector depending on expertise. Co-chairs will be elected every by the members of the working groups. The Working Groups will also be required to develop their terms of reference and guideline with the support of the OGP Secretariat.
7 Funding
For the OGP process to be successful, there is need for it to be largely funded through government’s annual budget, including contribution from agencies that have primary responsibility on commitment areas. Although development partners with interest in promoting good governance and transparency in Nigeria have expressed interest to assist Nigeria by providing technical assistance to the OGP Secretariat and to sub-nationals where they have ongoing programs, this support would only be minimal.
It is also expected that States signing onto the OGP Commitments would set aside some funds for the purpose of developing state action plans, training of its officials and for the implementation of the OGP state plans.
8 Organogram of the OGP Process in Nigeria
[pic]
Section 6. Crosscutting Areas
To ensure effective implementation of Nigeria’s OGP commitments, the NAP includes three crosscutting areas of work. These are: (1) Technology & Innovation; (2) Monitoring & Evaluation; and (3) NAP Communication Strategy. The NSC agreed that achieving all commitments and objectives under the NAP will require the effective use of these three tools and has established three specific working groups tasked with the responsibility of integrating these tools into the commitments under the thematic areas and work closely with MDAs and civil society in the use and implementation of these tools.
1 Technology and Innovation
The use of technology to provide greater access to information and data is at the heart of an open and transparent government. The NSC recognizes that Technology & Innovation cuts across all four OGP thematic areas and that appropriate solutions and infrastructure are required to deliver on each of the commitments. Therefore, a specific Technology & Innovation Working Group has been established to:
• Identify existing government IT solutions and infrastructure that are available for the implementation of OGP commitments.
• Establish what their current status is and what gaps exist.
• Recommend how those gaps can be filled through improvements in existing systems and infrastructure or the use of new and innovative tools that are realistic given the present economic realities.
In addition, Nigeria will commit to establishing a Central Open Government Information Platform that will serve as the OGP Nigeria portal/website, to make information sharing with the citizens and civil society easier and more efficient. This public facing platform will be real-time, sharing information with Nigerians about the progress on implementation of the OGP NAP commitments and other relevant governance information.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has a mandate which includes improving access to public information, imbibing transparency into government processes using IT and ensuring that IT resources are readily available to promote efficient national development. This mandate aligns directly with the OGP principals and objectives. In line with that, NITDA and the Technology Working Group will:
• Conduct a prioritized audit of IT capacity and gaps within MDAs relevant to the OGP process.
• Address identified IT gaps in order of priority, considering limited timeline and resources.
• Provide a continuous technology support mechanism to the OGP commitments.
• Ensure that all technology implementations across relevant MDAs conform to global information technology standards to guarantee systems interoperability for effective support of OGP commitments.
• Establish the Central Open Government Information Platform and ensure that it interfaces seamlessly with the electronic platforms of MDAs relevant to the OGP NAP implementation.
2 Communication Strategy
Recognizing that openness in and of itself is not an end to achieving transparency and accountability, the NSC has included within the NAP a strategy for the use of both existing and new platforms for citizen engagement and feedback on the four NAP thematic areas. The Communications Strategy includes methods to reach out to citizens directly through civil society, religious leaders and influencers, elected representatives, and the media. It will employ the ACADA (Assessment, Communication, Design, and Action) concept in the development and implementation of this communication strategy. Key elements of the strategy include:
• A reorientation of the psyche of public officials to their responsibility to the citizenry and stakeholders, including donors, businesses and civil society to account for the management of the common wealth, government revenue, loans and grants.
• Increasing awareness by citizens of their right to reports of stewardship by public officials, the right to information on demand as provided for by the Freedom of Information Act 2011 (FOIA), and the right to a minimum standard of service delivery from public institutions that possess a direct interface with the public in the provision of services.
• Reducing the communication gap between the government and its citizens by the identification and adoption of existing or establishment of new, credible and robust feedback mechanisms, which promote transparency and support participation in governance by the citizens and other stakeholders in the business of governance.
Through this, citizens will be better informed about the progress made towards the implementation of OGP commitments and can hold government to account. This includes understanding their rights under existing and new laws, along with the obligations of government and the private sector regarding openness and transparency.
3 Monitoring and Evaluation
Internal Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) of the NAP implementation is important for MDAs to ensure that (i) they are on track to fulfill their obligations under each commitment; (ii) assist the NSC to oversee the implementation process and identify potential gaps and determine where support and resources are needed to be directed; and (iii) for citizens, the private sector, civil society and the media to hold government to account with respect to delivering on its OGP commitments. The NAP will use a Results Based Management (RBM) Framework, along with appropriate output and outcome Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), crafted to track achievements, results and impacts of OGP commitments. The M&E system will be presented in a simple template for ease of implementing MDAs and civil society to monitor and evaluate progress.
Each of the 14 commitments articulated in the NAP have KPIs that will guide the M&E process. Through consultation with stakeholders, the M&E framework will include acceptable results (what should be expected or seen) for each commitment area. Each of these results will be reviewed with respect to how they link to citizens’ needs and there will be agreed indicators for these results. The method to capture results most effectively will be agreed upon as well as who will be responsible for this, within the MDAs.
The results framework will give a clear view of the performance status of the commitments at a glance. It will be sequentially presented, linking commitments to ambitions (outcomes/impacts) and indicators to ensure that implementation of activities (milestones) is purposeful and results oriented. The OGP focus areas of openness (Transparency, Accountability, Public Participation and Technology / Innovation) provide direction to specific commitments captured in the NAP. Therefore, this M&E strategy recognizes that the performance of each of the commitments in the NAP will be measured against the four focus areas to determine the overall level of change that has been achieved. A yearly qualitative assessment will also be conducted across the commitments to ascertain the level of openness with regard to each of the four openness areas. Prior to the qualitative assessment, a set of questions/checklist in addition to the KPIs contained in the results framework shall be prepared to ensure consistency in assessment.
Section 7. Sub-National Engagement and Pilot State Commitments
6.
1 Context
Following consultations on the OGP National Action Plan in Nigeria, it has become imperative to develop a pathway to the participation of State governments in the OGP process across the country. Nigeria is a Federation, which is a union of self-governing states. It is pertinent that efforts be made to ensure that every OGP reform undertaken at the national level is reflected as much as possible among the federating units, especially the states.
Indeed, the choice of Kaduna State as the location for the convening of the first National Retreat meeting was informed by the intent expressed by the Governor for the State to join the Open Government Partnership in 2015, well before the Federal Government joined. It was also informed by the State’s open budgeting process and the monitoring of projects’ progress through citizen engagement using the ‘phone-based platform or ‘geotech’ tool known as “Eyes and Ears”[4].
No doubt, the development of the first National Action Plan for the implementation of OGP principles in Nigeria gives us an opportunity to think through this process and to determine how best to engage with the States, particularly those States that have expressed interest to commit to all or some of the thematic areas already adopted at the federal level. (These thematic areas are set out in Section 1 of the NAP).
2 Benefits of Signing onto the OGP Principles
It is important to state at this point that States are not necessarily under an obligation to sign on to the OGP principles and by extension to the National Action Plan commitments. However, States are urged to sign onto the OGP principles that are focused on improving transparency, accountability and participation of citizens in order to improve the State’s ability to attract foreign investment, enhance access to additional development funds and engage with citizens.
Increasingly many development partners prefer states where the support they provide will have a high chance of being utilized appropriately. By signing unto OGP principles, states demonstrate both responsiveness to citizen’s demand through engagement and also their willingness to open up their systems to public scrutiny. Ultimately, such States are in a position to benefit from the development funds at this time when resources are scarce and there is urgent need to channel the revenue available to development and investment to those projects that matter most to the people such as education, health, roads, agriculture and energy.
3 How can States join?
The States can join by taking the following steps:
a) Review and understand the National Action Plan[5].
b) Write to the Co-Chairs and OGP Nigeria Secretariat in the Federal Ministry of Justice to express intent to join the OGP in Nigeria[6].
c) Once the letter of intent is received, the Co-Chair will respond and set out the procedure for joining.
Once a response is received from the OGP Secretariat, the next steps for formal acceptance into the OGP Family will include some or all of the following steps:
a) In collaboration with the OGP Secretariat in Nigeria, the State will be expected to organize a workshop to bring together government institutions and civil society organizations and private sector institutions to discuss OGP principles to determine the persons who should be members of the (i) State Steering Committee, and (ii) the Commitments that the State should commit to.
b) States will send the list of the State Steering Committee and the commitments from the state to the Co-Chair. Such commitments will be expected to reflect issues of transparency, accountability and participation of citizens in line with the priorities and context among states.
c) States will now inform the Secretariat if it requires assistance to develop the State Action Plans around the commitments.
d) States would be expected to formally send a request to the Secretariat for training of the State Steering Committee on the development and implementation of the State Action Plan.
4 Duration of State Action Plans and Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms
Since the National Action Plan is for two years and would be evaluated by the OGP International Secretariat, it is also expected that the OGP Nigeria Secretariat would evaluate the State Action Plan. Consequently, the State Action Plan would be for a period of two years and would be evaluated every six months by a team of experts and the National Secretariat. The State Steering Committee will be required to submit reports on progress made every quarter.
The assessment reports would be used to determine if the State would be eligible to be included in the second phase of the National OGP Action Planning process for the purpose of international evaluation.
Section 8. Conclusion
The partnership that the civil society and government provided ensured that the content of this plan was co-created from the beginning. Such a robust participatory process inspired a communication strategy that will enable the citizens take complete ownership of this plan and what it intends to achieve. It is expected that civil society will monitor government and insist that implementation be consistent with all aspects of the promises contained herein. In this regard, government will also hold non-state actors and citizens accountable in ensuring that implement their own part of the NAP. Government and leaders at all levels of governance are expected to remain open to receive constructive feedback and suggestions on ways to improve the implementation of the NAP and maximize impact.
As we proceed on this positive steps in our nation’s journey from transparency to accountability and ultimately, national prosperity, the Nigeria OGP Secretariat and the National Steering Committee stands ready to work hand in hand with all stakeholders to ensure that a more open and transparent government delivers the equitable and sustainable development that our citizens yearn for.
-----------------------
[1](1).pdf and .
[2] () for further consultation and website posting for questions, comments and inputs to be forwarded to mailto:ogpnigeria16@ or ogp_nigeria@.ng
[3]
[4] For more information, visit: .ng and and .
[5] This can be downloaded from ()
[6] A sample letter of intent is set out below and can be downloaded also from the OGP link in .
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